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Saint Vincent Pallotti (1795 - 1850)

Born in Rome: April 21, 1795, ordained a priest on the 16th of May, 1818.

On the 4th of April 1835 he founded the Union of Catholic Apostolate (UAC), bringing together priests, men and women religious, and lay people; united as a faith community for the common purpose of living and spreading the Good News.

He died on the 22nd of January 1850 at the centre of his new community, the church of San Salvatore in Onda, Rome.

He was beatified on the 22nd of January 1950, and proclaimed a Saint by Pope John XXIII, on the 20th of January 1963, during the Second Vatican Council.

St. Vincent Pallotti gave special emphasis to the fact that every Christian has received from Christ a mission for the Church and for the world. He was aware that bishops, priests, and religious cannot carry the total responsibilty for evangelization. Lay people, too, have the obligation and the right to actively participate in the mission of the Church. This concept was new at the time of Vincent Pallotti, and to implement it he founded the Union of Catholic Apostolate (UAC). He meant this Union to be an association of priests, religious, and lay people who together would strive to awaken in all a consciousness of their call to the apostolate of Jesus Christ. Moreover, they are called to bring this consciousness to all parts of the world.

Pope Paul VI said that Pallotti teaches us „to respect the vocation of lay Christians by providing adequate opportunity for its mature development“.

Pope John Paul II, speaking to the Pallottine Family in 1986, calls on all members to „continue to multiply your commitment so that what Vincent Pallotti prophetically announced, and the Second Vatican Council authoritatively confirmed, might become a happy reality, and that all Christians might become authentic apostles of Christ in the Church and the world!“